Sit back in A8’s lap of luxury
WHAT THE optional chauffeur pack on this Audi A8 doesn’t include is a chauffeur.which is a real shame, because what you want with this long wheelbase luxury saloon is to be sat in the back of it watching telly on one of the rear screens while perhaps having a gin and tonic.
Even if you have to drive it yourself this car is pretty special.the full name of this beauty is the Audi A8 L (for long wheebase) 60TFSIE Quattro.the 60 bit refers toaudi’s ridiculous numbering system that relates to the engine’s power output, the Quattro bit you know and the little e to the fact that this car features electrification.
It’s taken Audi a long time to produce a plug-in hybrid version of the A8, longer than it took arch rivals BMW and Mercedes-benz to build PHEV versions of their respective 7-Series and S-class.
But it’s here now and it’s a wonderful thing.
If a little out of the range of your average motorbike courier and most other people who’ve yet to be knighted.a cool £87,465 this baby costs – and that’s without the aforementioned chauffeur pack, privacy glass, comfort and sound pack and rear comfort pack, which all together bring the price up to £95,575. Depreciation on this car will be staggering.
Under the bonnet we havevw’s familiar 3.0-litre twin-turbov6 engine that produces in this car 340bhp.there’s also a
T£87,465
Petrol – 3.0 340bhp plus 137bhp electric motor 0 to 62mph in 4.9 seconds, 155mph top speed 137bhp electric motor that, combined with the petrol engine, makes a useable total of 443bhp.
Under the boot is a 14.1kwh Lithium-ion battery that gives the A8 an electric-only range of 28.6 miles which you’ll be very lucky to achieve in the real world. If your chauffeur doesn’t manage to eke out the EV range you can be a proper toff and dock the money for the extra petrol used from his wages.
HERE are two reasons to buy this plug-in hybrid version of the A8 instead of a diesel. One is the tax advantages and the other, if you’re in a position where this matters, is the positive PR of being in a car that can run silently in town on electric power.
The best thing about this big Audi is the comfort.the ride on its air suspension is extremely supple and even with the petrol engine working hard there’s barely any noise in the cabin. It’s better than both the BMW and Merc in this respect.
It’s a bit wallowy to drive but that’s a price worth paying for the good it does to your back and peace of mind.you’re getting a Bentley ride for a lot less money. And almost as much quality. This car comes packed with technology and systems. And plenty of digital screens.
There’s a large 12.3in ‘Virtual Cockpit’ instrument pack behind the steering wheel and a pair of digital screens above the centre console; the top one 10.1in and the one underneath it 8.6in.
I don’t like the business of entering commands by drawing letters with a finger on the lower screen. It’s not natural for a right-handed person and dangerous to do when you’re driving.
You don’t want Jeeves’s concentration to be off the road, either.
In the back you’re in your own little world or big world in fact.there’s acres of legroom and you have your own heating and ventilation controls as well as entertainment system.
That lithium-ion battery takes up a bit of space under the boot floor so the regular A8’s luggage capacity of 505 litres is reduced to 390 litres in the PHEV model.
That’s actually less than the size of the A4’s boot. Perhaps you could send another member of your staff along separately in the Range Rover with the luggage.
Super comfortable, super spacious, quiet and fast – with 0-62mph taking an impressively speedy 4.9 seconds – the A8 L is a fabulous machine. I can’t imagine any will be sold to private buyers in this country. In China, where big luxury cars are big sellers, it’ll be a different matter.
108.6mpg 60g/km Mercedes-benz S-class, BMW 745Le 9/10